Dr. Marie-Claire Moreau

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Jan 18 2014

{Day 18} Balancing Housework with Homeschool

31 Days of Homeschooling ~ Quick Start Homeschool

{Day 18} Balancing Housework with Homeschool

{For an overview of all 31 Days of Homeschooling click HERE.}

To advance to the next lesson, look for the “NEXT LESSON” link at the end of this article.

One of the things that concern some families is keeping the home in order.  In particular, since homeschooling is a full-time job — one that usually requires more time at home – how will anything else ever get done?

This is a common concern.  Common, but not unsolvable.

For those who like a clean house and an orderly environment, there are many techniques that can help.  These range from easy to much more complex.  Choose one that fits your lifestyle:

  • Confine homeschooling activities to one or two places — not all over the house.  Assign a space or an entire room for classroom items and leave everything there.  Then, close the door if you’d prefer not to look at it all day.  If space in a room is not possible, use a closet, several cabinets or an armoire instead.
  • Keep everything neatly organized by using totes, bins, boxes, drawers or whatever is needed to fit daily homeschool supplies.  Make sure that children know where everything goes when the day is done.  Dedicate a time each day to putting everything away.  This gives the feeling of neatness — at least for a little while each day.
  • Schedule periodic breaks throughout the day to replace items, do quick cleanups, put things away and perform household tasks.  Don’t save everything until the end of the day.  Put in a load of laundry before morning activities begin. After the first activity, transfer it to the dryer.  In between classes, run a vacuum or clean a toilet.  Children should do this, too.  Have a cleanup period every 2 hours — involve the children. After lunch, assign cleanup duties to someone.  Set a timer to start dinner at 4:00 pm, to be sure it’s ready by 6:00 pm.  The possibilities are endless.  
  • Assign chores to specific children every day, and enforce that chores are completed to your satisfaction.  Post chores in a place where everyone can see.  Children as young as 2 or 3 can help.  {For more suggestions, search on CHORES.}
  • Choose less “messy” and less “big” activities.  For example, instead of a finger-painting activity, choose one using washable crayons or colored pencils instead.  Instead of measuring the proportional distance between the Sun and the planets using a tape measure and a very long driveway, use a computer program instead.
  • Homeschool on a porch, in the back yard, in a tree house, on a boat, in the garage, in a vehicle while waiting for someone, or somewhere else from time to time.  This method keeps the house clean for a period and gives relief for a short time.
  • Take a few classes outside the home, especially the ones that require spreading out (e.g., cooking), creating strong odors (e.g., chemistry), involve messy supplies (e.g., sculpture), generate loud noises (e.g., percussion), and so on.

…and, to remove the pressure of worrying that someone may drop by while the house is a mess…

  • Tell family, friends and neighbors that you will be homeschooling.
  • Explain  that school takes place between 9:00 am – 3:00 pm (or whatever times you prefer) and that you are unable to receive guests during those hours.
  • Make it a habit of visiting friends and neighbors during “after school” hours.  Do this before they have the chance to come to you.
  • Hang a flag or a sign on the door saying, “School is in session” or a similar message.
  • Or, do as some moms do, and keep a bathrobe or house coat by the front door.  When visitors stop by, explain you aren’t feeling well, and it isn’t a convenient time to drop by!

One of my favorite seminars to deliver (and one of my most popular) is called, Make Block Scheduling Work For You!  See a description of this talk, along with some of the other topics I talk about, by clicking HERE.

NEXT LESSON

Further reading:

Tips for keeping chore systems running optimally

Recognize time-wasters and reclaim the day!

Clean enough

 

Written by Marie-Claire · Categorized: Announcements & Special Events · Tagged: 31 days, 31-day program, chores, e-course, free, freebies, household, housework, mini e-course

Oct 23 2012

Earning credit for life skills

There is more to homeschool than traditional academic subjects like history and math.  Everyday skills like cooking and yard work are important, too. So are healthy eating and exercise.  Learning to do laundry and simple car repairs, too.

As a normal part of life, many skills just come with the territory — sometimes not needing to be formally taught at all, and sometimes actually requiring sophisticated training, resources, and materials.

Parents may award credit for life skills their children pick up during the homeschool years.  Whether students learn independently or these things are taught using books and lessons, skills like these are fundamental, useful and exceedingly worthwhile.  If credit is earned for history and math, why not award occasional credit for life skills, too?

Did you know you could award homeschool credit for life skills? This article tells you how:

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Families may handle life skills as they wish.  A common way is to include a course to teach specific life skills in the homeschool line-up, and award credit for successful course completion at the end of the year.  Another way is to observe students throughout the year, and award credit based on a list of practical skills they picked up — and mastered – on their own.

Keep in mind, this is not about ordinary chores that many children already do.   This is about doing more than what is generally required, for an extended period of time, and is legitimately worthy of school credit.  I maintain there is a huge difference between learning valuable life skills that might not be learned any other way, and awarding credit as an “easy grade”.  (This is my philosophy about P.E. as well — i.e., walking the dog doesn’t merit school credit.)

With that said, families using transcripts should select a name for the course and list it on the transcript just like all of the other courses.  Grades can be awarded and figured into the GPA, as well.   Plus, the course can be taught multiple times, each time with a different, legitimate emphasis, if desired.

Examples of names for courses like these include:

  • Life Skills
  • Home Economics
  • Practical Arts
  • Interpersonal Relationships
  • Green Living
  • Mind, Body and Spirit
  • Household Maintenance
  • Skills for Everyday Life
  • College Prep
  • Workplace Readiness
  • Animal Care
  • Money Management

Though families should arrive at a name that best describes what the course is.  (Sometimes browsing course titles on high school and college web sites can inspire ideas.)

Life skills courses may be a composite of many things, too.  Sometimes a general name like Family Life is best for courses which include many different things — like infant and child care, , taking a babysitting course, receiving a CPR or first aid certificate, long-range meal planning, housekeeping, and more.  Workplace Skills might be used to describe a life skills course requiring keyboarding, learning to use a spreadsheet, studying office manners and protocols, dressing for the workplace, banking, and more. Being creative with the name is part of the fun.

As for the number of credits on the transcript, this again depends on the specific experience and the family philosophy about life skills.   Parents can use the course description, the list of completed activities, or number of hours logged to gauge if the experience is worthy of a 1/2 credit, a full credit, or possibly even more.  Use THIS as a guide if you’ve never thought about how to award credits before.

Don’t be afraid to list life skills among the many things your homeschoolers have learned along the journey to a full, educated, and well-prepared life.  Achieving the perfect combination of courses, skills and experiences for every child is the trademark of homeschooling. Use it to your advantage and award the credit your child really deserves.

 

 

 

Related posts:

What are credits & how to use them

Awarding credits 3 different ways

High school e-book makes things simple

[Flickr Image]

Written by Marie-Claire · Categorized: Homeschool · Tagged: high school, household, housework, laundry, record-keeping, transcript, unit studies

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